David Paulides is an American cryptozoologist, author, and producer known for claiming the real-life existence of a cryptid named Bigfoot. He has also linked the disappearances of several people in National Parks and elsewhere to mysterious and unspecified causes. After finishing college, he joined the Fremont Police Department and a few years later, was transferred to San Jose Police Department as a member of their SWAT team. Later, he was made a detective and served as part of the Vice/Intelligence Unit, performing various assignments. After his voluntary retirement from the police, Paulides briefly worked as an executive in the technology sector and later was asked to determine the possibility of the existence of Bigfoot. He began his career as a cryptozoologist and subsequently authored two self-published books and set up the research group North America Bigfoot Search. He even a sponsored a research paper on the subject through the group but it was poorly received. For his next project, Paulides chose Missing 411, on which he released a few other self-published books and made a documentary. However, his findings on this matter was heavily criticised as well.